Ford's Notes Newsletter #4

A review of free training cybersecurity resources and career path from Cisco

TL;DR Here is a review of Cisco’s free 120-hour Junior Cybersecurity Analyst training career path and their new Ethical Hacker course.

In this edition of the newsletter, I’m writing about some of the educational offerings of my former employer, Cisco Systems. I retired from Cisco in 2020 after 24 years of service. I had many roles during that time, primarily in the Security business unit. Am I showing favoritism here? No way. After reviewing their current learning offerings, I believe they are making some fantastic learning products available worldwide for free.

In my initial review of these learning products, I picked out a few online courses and sampled their contents. After more research, I realized that I was looking at a defined career path. The Cisco Junior Cybersecurity Analyst learning path and certification demonstrate that a candidate has the foundational skills needed for entry-level roles like Cybersecurity Analyst, Cybersecurity Technician, or Tier 1 Help Desk Support. This certification leads to the next level with associate-level courses and CyberOps Associate certification.

The Cisco Junior Cybersecurity Analyst career path includes 120 hours of free training. As described on the website, the learning path includes:

• Introduction to Cybersecurity (6 hours),

• Networking Basics (22 hours),

• Networking Devices and Initial Configuration (22 hours),

• Endpoint Security (27 hours),

• Network Defense (27 hours), and

• Cyber Threat Management (16 hours).

The Junior Cybersecurity Analyst Career Path culminates in a free 50-question exam. That exam is an assessment for the Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST) Cybersecurity exam (100-160 CCST), which costs USD 125 at Pearson Vue.

Upon successful completion of each of the courses and of the assessment, students are awarded a Cisco badge that they can add to their social profiles and resume. It’s important to note that this is a certificate program and does not offer renewal at this time.

A feature of all Cisco courses is the initial knowledge check. This quiz provides a detailed assessment of what the learner knows and maybe doesn’t know before they start the course. I use this type of assessment with students who believe they already know much of the material in preparation for a certification exam. Having this at the start of studies is helpful, as it identifies what the student doesn't know.

These courses also offer lab activities, which help students get away from reading and engage in activities that reinforce their learning.

The Networking Basics course covers the foundation of networking and network devices, media, and protocols. Through reading and 13 labs, students observe data flowing through a network, configure devices to connect to networks and learn how to use different network applications and protocols to accomplish networking tasks. I’ve reviewed this course before and recommend it to CompTIA Security+ students who lack networking knowledge.

The two courses in the middle of this learning path were a surprise and very valuable. Networking Devices and Initial Configuration is a survey course covering how the devices covered in Networking Basics are configured and deployed. This course adds the depth of knowledge that students need in cybersecurity to configure defenses.

The real surprise was Endpoint Security, as I don’t know many people who associate Cisco and networking with endpoint configuration and defense. This course and its 31 labs covered the endpoint threat environment for Windows and Linux operating systems in wired and wireless networks.

I highly recommend both of these courses to students who have completed CompTIA Security+ before they pursue CySA+ or Pentest+.

The career path concludes with the Cyber Threat Management course exploring cybersecurity and threat management governance. This course works well at the end of the career path in that it helps students use what they learned in the previous four courses to develop and implement information security policies. Students also gain skills for managing threats, such as assessing a network for vulnerabilities, managing risks, and responding to security incidents.

Students who study for 8 hours per week can complete and earn the Cisco Junior Cybersecurity Analyst badge in 15 weeks. The Cisco Network Academy site has an active community of fellow students working through the career path courses in Q&A forums. Students need to provide an email address to register, but I used the Google authentication option, which worked great.

Outside that Junior Cybersecurity Analyst career path, Cisco offers an Ethical Hacker course and badge. The Cisco Ethical Hacker course is categorized as ‘intermediate’ and lists the Junior Cybersecurity Analyst courses as prerequisites. This 70-hour course features 34 labs and is designed to prepare students with an Ethical Hacker skillset and an understanding of offensive security. Offensive security professionals are often known as penetration testers, who work to discover and address unknown threats before cybercriminals can take advantage of them.

Here is some potentially shocking news. Having reviewed the Cisco Ethical Hacker course and comparing it to the EC-Council Ethical Hacking certification, I suggest that the Cisco program is better suited for those students with little experience at the start of their careers.

The Cisco program is a 70-hour self-paced program that is free of charge. By comparison, the EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification is offered in two forms:

• CEH (ANSI) obtained by passing an exam, and

• CEH (Practical) obtained by passing a practical lab.

The CEH (ANSI) cost ranges from USD 850 for courseware (plus possible additional membership fees) to USD 2199 for on-demand training and USD 3499 for live in-person training. The CEH exam costs USD 950 and is administered through the EC-Council’s portal. The EC-Council CEH program has been in place for years and has an untold number of certified recipients. But the cost difference here is startling.

My name is Brian Ford. Welcome to my newsletter. Many know me as a technology instructor, teaching networking and cybersecurity courses. I’m also a coach who works one-on-one with people who want to learn about and understand Internet, cloud, and cybersecurity technologies. I’m also a technology researcher investigating various cybersecurity topics, including how web browsers and protocols can be used and abused.

Things that I’m going to help readers with:

• Choose what technologies, certifications, and career choices to pursue.

• Become lifelong learners and earn various technical certifications.

• Those who have earned a certification maintain and use it to their advantage.

Please look at these posts for help maintaining your CompTIA and ISC2 certifications.

Have you submitted CEUs or CPEs and been audited? I'd like to hear about your audit experience.

I tell all my clients and students that I get a lot of personal satisfaction from what I do, not because of the paycheck but because of the impact. I encourage clients to keep in touch with me. If you find this newsletter helpful or if you have something you want to share with others, please don’t hesitate to message me.

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